Book Review~ Corpse Queen ~ by Stacey Rourke

~Description~

With the king gone, the veil fell.
Thrusting Carnage Crossing into a fresh hell.

A city of the dead. A town built by demise.
Torn apart by the livings’ whim to exorcise.

The lineage was tracked and followed to a royal heir.
The fact she had a pulse a shocking affair.

Whisked through death’s door with grisly splendor,
Her reign will begin when ties to the past sever.

Yet secrets slither in with a venomous bite,
Threatening to destroy all when they come to light.

Will the truth revealed bring peace to the dead?
Or unleash the Corpse Queen to come for your head?


~Review~

5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It’s not like I ever expect Stacey Rourke to let me down, but WOW. This one was amazing! It was like one of my favorite authors (Stacey Rourke) had this great story with perfect characters – per usual – but had Neil Gaiman sitting next to her whispering in her ear the ideal odd details to add, and makes you fall in love with these characters and the island town they live in even more. I truly don’t think this could have been written better, even making it seem completely normal and only a tiny bit off-putting to casually walk by someone on the street with an ax firmly planted in their head.


Every one of these characters, who look the way they did when they died, death injury and all, are all the more interesting because their deaths are an addition to their own stories and personalities. Our main character, known as Tempest Mortem in death, is a perfect example. An everyday woman reluctantly going along with her sister’s idea for a bachelorette celebration leads not only to her death, but to the discovery of who she really is; and although we only see the beginning of who she is and who she will become, we already know she’s seriously kick-ass and is definitely meant to be a queen.


But then there’s Lugosi – my personal favorite – and the rest of her entourage and friends. Lugosi is the perfect character, the ideal girl’s gay best friend. He’s funny, snarky, stylish, sensitive in all the right ways, fiercely loyal to the town and the queen, and totally comfortable with who he is – which he wasn’t able to be in life, and takes full advantage of in death. I CAN NOT get enough of him. Gideon *sigh* is one dreamy pirate that I’d love to have by my side any time, and Malaria, Tempest’s frenemy is someone you can’t help but love, even though you should kinda hate her.


The design of the town, Carnage Crossing, is the coolest original idea of where people go that aren’t Hell material, but not totally Heaven ready either. It’s an amazing mix of pre- and post-death, where the residents even continue to live in the homes they lived in previously and relive their deaths at varying degrees. The twists this adds to the story, especially for Tempest, are extra cool, but I won’t spoil why.


There is nothing about this book that I don’t love, and if there were 20 stars to rate it with, I absolutely would. It went by too fast, and I can’t wait to learn more about all of these characters and their especially cool town in the next book. And all that Tempest will become (lets’ not forget with Gideon by her side)? I’m DYING to find out! In the meantime, I may just re-read this one a few dozen times, because it’s that kind of book. I just can’t recommend it enough.